On May 21, 2025, the Spanish National Court prosecutor announced an appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the acquittal of Iratxe Sorzabal, a former leader of the Basque separatist group ETA.

The Second Section of the National Court previously ruled that the incriminating evidence against Sorzabal was linked to mistreatment she reportedly suffered following her arrest in March 2021. The prosecutor is seeking a 12-year prison sentence for Sorzabal in connection with a bombing at the Irún border crossing in Gipuzkoa, which occurred in October 1995.

The appeal does not directly question the existence of mistreatment during Sorzabal's detention but targets the connection established by the National Court between her statements made during that time and the subsequent admission of her activities to ETA's leadership, referred to as her 'kantada.' Prosecutor Carlos García Berro contends that the court established an alleged indirect connection between the police statement, which was reportedly given under duress, and the critical self-critique that ETA members are required to submit, thereby undermining the validity of later evidence.

The court deemed that while the 'kantada' contained incriminating details that Sorzabal did not disclose to police, the invalidation of the evidence acquired during her arrest tainted other evidence as well.

This conclusion on mistreatment was supported by an expert report from a forensic doctor affiliated with the Basque Institute of Legal Medicine.

García Berro emphasized that the court's assertion of indirect nullity regarding the 'kantada' lacked substantial justification, arguing that the ruling incorrectly posited that without her police statement, Sorzabal would not have composed the self-critique, which was written freely and voluntarily in the absence of any visible signs of mistreatment.

This assertion, according to the prosecutor, introduces arbitrariness in evaluating the evidence.

Before any further legal proceedings occur, the Supreme Court prosecutor has the final authority to determine whether the appeal will be filed.

The 'kantada,' as characterized by the prosecutor, is a crucial document in which the individual must inform ETA's leadership about both their police testimony as well as their overall terrorist activities, and should be valued differently than it was in this case.

In addition to her legal challenges in Spain, Sorzabal has also been sentenced to 24 and a half years in prison in France for her involvement in other explosive attacks, including two bombings in Gijón in 1996.